Banu Ifran or Ifran or
Ifranid (Arabic: بنو يفرن‎), a Berber tribe, prominent in the history of
pre-Islamic and early Islamic North Africa. Tlemcen in present-day Algeria was a capital of the Kingdom of Banu
Ifran (790 - 1068).

Banu Ifran, the children of the Afri resisted
or revolted against the foreign occupiers of their Africa -(Romans, Vandals, Byzantines). In the 7th
century, they sided with Kahina in her resistance against the Muslim Umayyad
invaders. In the 8th century they mobilized around the dogma of sufri in revolting against the Arab
Umayyads and Abbasids. In the 10th
century they founded a dynasty opposed to the Fatimids, the Zirids, the
Umayyads, the Hammadids and the Maghraoua. The Banu Ifran was defeated by
the Almoravids and the invading Yemeni Arabs Banu Hilal and the Banu Sulaym - Hammadid[1] to the
end of the 11th century. The Ifrenid dynasty was recognized as the
only dynasty that has defended the indigenous people of the
Maghreb, by the Romans referred to as the Africani[2].

In the 11th century Iberia, the Banou Ifran conquered and
built the city of Ronda in Andalusia and governed from
Cordoba
for several centuries.

The Roman name Africa means
Land of the Afri, the indigenous inhabitants of
North Africa. Ifran is a plural for Afar, Efri or Ifri, and ifri
means cave in Berber and was also the name of a cave goddess.[3]

Contents

History

They were one of the four major tribes of the Zenata or Gaetulia[4][2] confederation.
Their name probably derives from ifri, a Berber word
meaning cave. It has been suggested they were originally
troglodytes. Another
possibility is that their name relates to one of the major gods of
the pagan Berbers, Ifrou (with a similar
derivation of his name).

They first come to notice when their chief Abu Qurra rebuilt the city of Tlemcen in Algeria in 765 (formerly it was a Roman city
named Pomaria). They opposed the Egyptian Fatimid Caliphate, aligning
themselves with the Maghrawa tribe and the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba, although they
themselves became Kharijites. Led by Abu Yazid, they surged east and attacked Kairouan in 945. Another
leader, Ya'la ibn Muhammad
captured Oran and constructed a
new capital, Ifgan, near Mascara. The Fatimids struck back
hard. Their able general Jawhar killed Ya'la in battle in 954[5] and
destroyed Ifgan, and for some time afterward the Banu Ifran
reverted to being scattered nomads in perpetual competition with their Sanhaja neighbours. Some went
to Spain, where they settled in Malaga and other places. Others, led by
Hammama, managed to gain control of the Moroccan province of Tadla. Later, led by
Abu al-Kamāl, they established a new capital at Salé on the Atlantic coast.
During this period they began conflict with the Barghawata tribes on the
seaboard.

During the 11th century the Banu Ifran contested with the Maghrawa tribe for the
sovereignty over the former Idrisid Kingdom of Fes. Ya'la's son Yaddū took Fes by surprise in January 993 and held it for some
months until the Maghrawa
ruler Ziri ibn
Atiyya returned from Spain and regained control after some
bloody battles.

In May or June of 1033, Fes was
recaptured by Ya'la's grandson Tamīm. Fanatically devoted to
religion, he began a persecution of the Berber Jews[6][3] , and is said
to have killed 6000 of their men while confiscating their wealth
and women . Sometime in the period 1038-1040 the Maghrawa tribe retook Fes, forcing Tamīm to flee to Salé.

Soon after that time, the Almoravids began their rise to power and
effectively eliminated and exterminated both the Banu Ifran and
their brother-rivals the Maghrawa.

Etymology

The Banou Ifren or Ifren, in Arabic أَو يفرن, أو إفوراقس, أو
إفوراغس, أو إفورن, was a tribe of the indigenous Amazigh from North Africa and
especially Maghreb (Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya), and possibly the Berber tribe that gave
rise to the Ihag'garen, the Iasgueren, and other Berber tribes.

Ifren was also the name of a Berber king. The Berber kings of Numidia had names ending in
"n", as Medghassen in Batna in
the Aurès, Msnsn (Massinissa), Mkwsn (Micipsa), Ygwrtn (Jughurta), Ifren, Ygmrsn (yaghmorasen)
Maghrawa, Mdghasen, etc.. [4][7]

The name of the Ifren tribe, has been referred to in many
alternative versions, as Ifuraces or Afar in Latin, Ifrinidi,
Iforen, or Fren or Wafren or Yefren or Yafren or Yafran. The names
all mean simply The Sons of Ifri. The
banu- was added by the Arab writers, they named
them as 'ben ifren' or 'Ifrinid'.

Ifren's brother tribes, the Maghra (Maghraoua) and the Irnyan,
were also descendants of the Isliten. They are all of the Zenata branch of Berbers. The
Banou Ifren was a nomadic Berber tribe, and during the Middle Ages,
they roamed the plains and in the mountains in the outskirts of the
Sahara. Ibn Khaldun, Mokadima

Africa as used by the Romans was the name of the region adjacent
to Carthage, in present-day northern Tunisia, later to become
Ifriquia in Arabic. As mentioned before, the name derives from the
word Ifri (cave in Berber language). As a result of this region's
importance to the Romans, Africa became the name of the entire
continent.[8][5][9]

Domus Africa

Of the many Amazigh tribes, they were considered warriors, and
their expertise was as cavalrymen. According Ibn Khaldoun,
Ifrinides or Ait Ifren were successfully resisting Romans, Vandals
and Byzantines who also sought to occupy North Africa before the
arrival of the Muslim armies.

Religion

Before Islam

As d'Hadrien (136), représent Africa

Among the Ifran, animism was the principal spiritual philosophy
and the inspiration of this major tribe of the Zenata Berbers. Ifri was also the name of a Berber deity,
and their name may have origin in their beliefs.[15][9][15][10] the Plural of
Ifri is Ifran.[16][11]

The Latin translation or borrowing of this deity formed the name
Africa. Africa was a Berber goddess before the Roman conquest. Dea Africa
means goddess Africa and represents a symbol to the Roman era. And
since Ifri is the Afers, the designation for the local non-Punic
populations of North Africa, it also implies a different belief
system than that of the Carthaginians. Ifru rites symbolized in
caves were held to gain favour or protection for merchants and
traders. There is a cave representing this rite near Guechguech and
Constantine, Algeria. The myth of
this protection is befittingly depicted on Roman coins.[17][12]

Ifru was regarded as a sun goddess, cave goddess and protector
of the home.[18][13] Ifru or Ifran
was regarded as a Berber version of Vesta.

Dehia, usually referred to as The Kahina was the Dejrawa Berber trub queen
prophetess and leader of the non-Muslim response to the advancing
Arab armies. Some historians reckon Kahina as Christian,[19] some
even say she was a Berber, but follower of the Judaic faith.[20][14][6][15], like Ibn Khaldun[21].

Kahina named her son Ifran. Furthermore, few of the Ifran were
Christians, even after more than half a millennium of Christianity
among the urban populations and the more sedentary tribes. Ibn Khaldun simply
states that Ifran were Berbers, and says nothing of their religion
before the advent of Islam.

Some contemporary historians, such as Emile Félix Gautier in his
book "Siècles obscurs du Moghreb", state that the Zenata were a very savage people.

When the Arab armies attack to conquer 'the west', the Maghreb in Arabic, the Ben
Ifran were the first tribe to mobilize under their Queen Kahina and defend their Numidia
and Africa.[22][16]

During Islam Ben Ifren was opposed to the
Sunnis of the Arab armies. They eventually converted, but summoned
under the Kharidjite movement within Islam. Ibn Khaldun say: Zenata people say they are Muslims but they
still oppose the Arab army.[23][24].
After 711, the Berbers were systematically converted to Islam, many
devout in their religious practice of Islam, and the vast majority
eventually became wholly arabicized. The principal leaders of the
Ifren (Abu Qurra, Abou
Yazid, etc) were consistently opposed to the invading
Arabs.[25]

Ifran in
Spain

The Ifren house of Corra were to rule the Andalusian city Ronda in Spain. Yeddas was the military leader of the
Berber troops who were at war against the Christian king and El
Mehdi. Abu Nour or Nour of
the house of Corra became lord of Ronda and then Seville in Andalusia from 1023 to 1039 and from
1039 to 1054. The son of Nour bin Badis Hallal ruled Ronda from
1054 to 1057, and Abu Nacer from 1057 to 1065.[27]